Just Over the Hill

Just Over the Hill

"Since the beginning of the world, no ear has heard, no eye has seen what God has prepared for those who wait for Him." Isaiah 64:4

In one of the closing scenes from the movie A Far Off Place, the two teenagers have been trying to flee across the Kalahari Desert and are facing total exhaustion. Without water and blistered from the sun, they finally collapse while climbing a sand dune. The camera, showing they lying face down in the sand, zooms out to reveal that just over the crest of the hill is the town they had been trying to reach. Their goal was within reach if they could have pressed on a little farther and, no doubt, if they had known it was that close, they could have summoned up the strength to climb the last stretch of that sand dune.

The movie reminds me a story in I Samuel 13 where Saul was facing a very difficult time and was waiting for Samuel to show up and give him an answer from the Lord. When Samuel didn't show up on time, and with the situation getting more desperate by the minute, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered a burnt offering, a job reserved for the priests. And as so often happens when we give up before God shows up:

"And it came to pass, that as soon as Saul had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came...." I Samuel 13:10

So often we give up just before our breakthrough comes, probably because that is the time of greatest testing and stretching, that is the time when our strength and our faith are at their weakest. And then, to make matters worse, Samuel told Saul that if he had only waited, the Lord was going to establish his rule over Israel forever but now it would be given to a man after God's own heart (David).

Time and time again, I've seen people give up on God just as He is getting ready to bless them and do something incredible in their lives. We need to have reinforced the knowledge that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, and that the Lord will never let you and I down. We cannot always understand His timing but we know it is perfect. Our faith will be rewarded!

And so it may well be that your breakthrough, your answer to prayer, the change you've been waiting for is just over the hill.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church